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The Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) is seeking a three-year pay deal for officers with a five per cent uplift in each year. The claim is to bring police officers pay back to ‘fair levels’.

However, if the government declines the pay award then the Federation will push for a 6.2 per cent rise this year with the increase coming into effect from 1 September.

Details of the pay claim are part of a joint submission to the Police Remuneration Review Body (PRRB) with the Superintendents' Association. The next stage of the PRRB process is the oral evidence sessions scheduled for 27 February - 6 March.

Police officers struggling with debts

The Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) claims years of below inflation pay awards have left more than a third of police officers struggling to make ends meet, with almost half worrying about their finances ‘almost every day’.

The PFEW have calculated how much Police pay has fallen below where it should be when taking into account comparisons to other jobs in the public sector, but does not include inflation for 2019.

The PFEW claim the loss in salary for constable up to chief inspector is;

18.4% for a police officer

19.4% for a police sergeant

22% for an inspectors

24% for a chief inspector.

The PFEW’s National Secretary, Alex Duncan, said: “Since austerity began, we have seen years of no pay increases or below inflation increases. The level of police pay has now eroded to a point where police officers are worse off than they should be."

Mr Duncan adds: “Since 2010, there has not been a single pay award that has kept pace with inflation. Based on where we are, another real terms pay cut, or indeed a rise in the cost of living, is going to exacerbate that situation and result in more officers falling over a financial cliff-edge.”

Police awarded 45 per cent pay rise - In 1978

In 1978, the then Labour government commissioned Lord Edmund-Davies to look into police pay and he concluded the police had suffered years of low pay awards. The review recommended a new system of police pay awards to be in line with average pay for other workers but because police pay had fallen so low it was suggested an immediate 45 per cent pay increase should be made. Although this was agreed by the Labour Government they insisted it be staggered over two years. A few months later, Margaret Thatcher's new Conservative government came to power and immediately implemented the full increase. I was one of those officers that benefited from this. You can read more here.

It’s not a crime for a Police officer to be in debt, it’s how you go about resolving it, is the key.

This is blog written I wrote last year on how support for police officers' in debt has changed over the years and the procedure a police officer needs to follow if they have debt problems.

Any Police officer reading this and wishes to speak with me in person can make contact via direct message on Twitter @debtwizard, Facebook 'DebtWizard' or call the number on the DebtWizard website and ask for me to call you back. I will get back to you within 24 hours, in total confidence.

You can read the full press release from the Police Federation here (External website)

As featured in:

RAPID DEBT HELP FORM

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